Sometimes the Only Thing You Can Do Is Run
by Clazzie
Summary: Set two years after the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Bucky is found by Steve and brought back to the SHIELD. However not everything goes to plan between him and Natasha. TRIGGER WARNING: Contains mentions of abuse, later on rape and torture. Summary sucks, sorry.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This Fic contains triggers; abuse, mentions of rape and torture, read at your own risk.**

Two years, that's how long it took for Steve and Sam to find James, two years of them chasing him around the globe, following leads and finding more dead ends. In fact, Natasha was pretty sure the only reason that Steve and Sam found him was because James had wanted to be found. He had come back with them to the avengers tower, then to the re-imaged SHIELD headquarters. The New Director, Maria Hill had understandably not trusted him, in fact, she still didn't. He was watched constantly, had a tracker on him so that they could see wherever he went and he had weekly meetings with Dr Xavier. Everything was going well, or so they all thought. Natasha had accidently walked in on James training and she could see that he was having flashbacks. That's what sparked it off. They started talking about Russia, about their time in the red room, about everything that they had forgotten, filling in each others memories.

At first all of their conversations had been safe, or as safe as they could be with their histories, but the longer they talked, especially when no one was around the closer they got. At one point they had been sitting together and the next thing Natasha knew was that they were kissing, it had started off hesitant, but it quickly escalated into James bruising her lips, and Natasha bruising his back.

These stolen kisses marked their first few weeks together, but slowly James got more and more controlling, and the day that they announced that they were together (much to the shock of everyone else) was also the day that he hit her for the first time. She had told him earlier that day that she was going running with Steve that afternoon.

"What do you mean you're going running with Steve?" came his immediate answer.

"We always do on a Friday afternoon James. You've known this the entire time that you've been here."

"But you're with me, why would you go running with Steve if you're with me?" Natasha couldn't speak.

"You've never had a problem with this before" she muttered while tying up her running shoes, then she got up and went to leave the room. Before she left however, James grabbed her arm and twisted her in sharply.

"You are not going running with Steve, you're staying here with me." He growled in her ear, she tried to twist her arm out of his;

"I am, just because I am going training with someone who is allowed off site does not mean that I do not love you." She pulled her arm fully out, went to walk away, but before she could he grabbed her arm again, and, seemingly in one fluid movement, slapped her hard enough across, the face that she fell to the floor. She just looked up at him in shock;

"If you tell anyone about this, I will kill you" came his reply. "Now call Steve and tell him you're not running this afternoon". He held out the phone to her, "Call or I hit you again." She took the phone from his hands, she dialled Steve's number and waited for him to pick up.

"Steve, hey, it's Natasha, just letting you know that I'm sparring with James this afternoon instead of going running." To her relief Steve seemed pretty chilled about it, she figured that it might have something to do with the blonde haired agent that he'd met two years ago.

"You and I are going to the training room" she said to James.

"You don't tell me what to do" came his reply.

"Well how else do you want me to explain this?" She said while pointing at the bruise that was already beginning to cover part of her face.

"You can say anything you want"

"You need an alibi, otherwise no one's going to believe me."

"They'd better believe you."

"Just come to the training room with me please."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Two months had gone by, no one but Natasha knew what James was turning into. In public he was the picture of love, kind and caring, but as soon as they were alone he would turn violent. Screaming at her, telling her off for every perceived wrong. The Avengers may not have been noticing that he was cruel, but they definitely noticed when their Natasha continued showing up with bruises and the occasional broken bone. they also noticed when she began to lose weight. She was turning into a shadow of what she had once been. She still continued to do everything that was required of her, but whenever she had free time she would be holed up in her room or 'training'. Even Tony, narcissistic, self-absorbed Tony knew that something was wrong. He had gone to her once, when she was alone, determined to get an answer out of her as to what was wrong.

"Natasha, what's wrong?" He had said in his typical, blunt way of speaking.

"Why do you think something is wrong?" She had replied too quickly.

"Just the way in which you answered that question tells me that something is up. What is it? You can trust me, and if you don't think you can trust me, you can trust pepper, or Agent Hill, or Steve, or even Birdbrain." The last bit got a slight smile out of her.

"Tony, there's nothing wrong with me, I've just-" She never got to finish her sentence. James walked in to the two of him. He was smiling like nothing was wrong, but she could see behind his eyes that he was angry.

"What are you two talking about?" He said with a laugh as he sat down behind Natasha and pulled her into his arms. She flinched slightly, though she was sure that Tony hadn't noticed.

"Oh, we were just talking about Fury and where we reckon he is now."

"Is that so? Care to elaborate?" James replied.

"We thought he might be in one of those secret bases that he was always talking about, though neither of us know where they are." Natasha answered kissing James on the cheek.

"Well, I'd better get going, looks like you two have some catching up to do…" Tony said with a wink before he got up to leave. Shutting the door behind him he said to Jarvis;

"Keep an eye on those two, report back to me with everything that happens with them. Record it al"

"Any particular reason Sir?"

"I just want to check something." Tony had seen the flinch in Natasha's body as soon as James touched her and he knew that it wasn't right.

Inside the room James had turned to Natasha.

"What the hell do you think you're doing talking to him?" James shouted, grateful for the soundproof rooms.

"He came in to talk to me, I didn't look for him."

"Bullshit. I heard you both, he was asking what was wrong and you were about to tell him." He thundered, flipping her and pinning her shoulders to the back of the couch.

"I wasn't, I swear." She cried. Not that it did any good, he lifted his metal arm and punched her hard in the stomach.

"You were going to tell him, and you know what I told you about whether you did." He curled his metal hand into a fist and shook it in front of her face, "You know what I told you" he said again, then slapped her hard enough across the face to knock her out.

Down in the workshop Tony was watching a live feed of what was happening with pursed lips. He paused the video when James had slapped Natasha and was now calling the rest of the Avengers and Maria Hill.

"Guys, we have a problem, I need you all to get to Avengers tower as soon as you get this message" Tony left on their voicemails.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**AN: Just a note, this chapter contains mentions of rape, read at your own discretion, I won't go into great detail (I'm not that kind of writer) but as a note of warning, it is there. I'll put markings to show where it starts and where it stops so that you can all be okay. Also, thank you to all the all of the lovely reviewers who have been so nice to review this shoutout to: crazyaboutto, celticank, Harrypotterchick1. You're all wonderful. This chapter is written for you :)**

An hour later they were all crowded in the workshop;

"I called you all here because I need you to watch this."

"Shouldn't we wait for Natasha and James?" asked Clint and the rest of them agreed.

"No, this cannot wait for them considering that it concerns them." Tony then proceeded to press play on the recorded video. the rest of the Avengers, Maria, and Pepper watched in silence, their faces slowly setting into hard lines. When the video finished pepper let out a sob.

"We need to get her out of here, now!" She shouted.

"We need to be smart about how we do it though, otherwise he'll know and he'll kill her." This opened a flurry of comments from everyone in the room. Then Steve shouted quiet, and everyone, including Thor shut up.

"We need to get James out of here so that we can get Natasha to a safe location, where is she now Tony?" Tony switched to a live feed from her quarters. Natasha was lying unconscious on her bed and James was sitting, blocking the door so that she couldn't get out. "Okay, here is what we are going to do." Steve continued. " Hill, you are going to create a fake mission that needs the winter soldiers expertise. While he's on the mission Bruce and I are going to go get him and take him down." At this everyone looked at Steve in shock. "I mean with a sedative, not actually take him out." The rest of the avengers seemed to agree with this. "Actually, Thor, you're going to come with us as well, we're going to need someone with more metal than him. Clint, Pepper, Hill, Tony, you are all going to move Natasha to a safe location that Bucky cannot find, and preferably one that we cannot find either, that way if things go south, we will still be able to protect her."

"What if can't take him out? Or if he refuses to go?" Director Hill asked, obviously concerned.

"Then we take him out properly. This cannot continue. Everybody clear?"

"Crystal." came the reply from Pepper.

"As day." Hill said.

"Of course." Said Clint.

"Can I take him back to Asgard after, men who hit their wives are considered the lowest of the low, it might do him good to have some sense beaten into him." Asked Thor when the room had quietened down a bit.

"Maybe, we'll see how it goes." Steve said, half laughing.

"Now, how am I going to explain why you're all suddenly here?" Tony asked, with mock horror on his face.

"You could say that you invited us all over for Shawarma." Clint suggested. His suggestion was agreed to by all of them.

"That is a brilliant idea Clint." said Bruce.

"Uhh, guys…" Director Hill butted in, "Where did James go?" They all looked back to the projection of Natasha's room, she was still there, one of her wrists tied to the bedpost, but James was nowhere to be seen.

"Jarvis, do a search of the building to find James."

"Yes Sir, just give me a minute. He is located in the bathroom in Ms Romanoffs room."

At that moment he walked back into Natasha's room, just as she was beginning to stir, he was shirtless and looked furious.

"Finally you see fit to wake up" they all heard through the speakers.

"Wha-what?" Came Natasha's groggy reply. "Where am I?"

"You're in your room." James started, in a short, clipped tone. "However, you are not leaving until I am finished with you, and you will not tell anyone what happens here, you hear me?" When she didn't reply he hit her across the face again. "Do you hear me!" He shouted in her ear, she only nodded, not trusting herself to speak. James stood up and began to unbuckle his belt, then, he tied her ankles to the other end of the bed.

"We need to stop this now." Said Pepper in an obvious state of shock.

"Right! All of you upstairs, I'm going to create a reason for him to leave the room. Jarvis, please tell James once everyone is out of here that he is required downstairs immediately, and if he doesn't come, I'm coming to him." They all began to scatter, hearing Jarvis's mechanised voice over the intercom, calling out to James. Tony looked back at the screen as he began to hide the evidence from their secret meeting in his workshop. On-screen James had his pants off and was about to get onto Natasha when he heard the intercom.

"You do not leave until I get back, you hear me?" He growled in her face. She only nodded, he was getting dressed, then he was out of the room.

"Hill, you better have a reason to stop him going back to Natasha's room otherwise he'll kill her if she's gone." Tony said through his earpiece.

"Already sorted Tony, just keep him there for twenty and then we'll be good to go."

"Roger Hill." Said Tony, just before he saw James's legs appear above the workshop.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**AN: So I had someone say that Steve was a bit ooc in the last chapter, I'm sorry for that. Seeing as this is just falling out of my fingers and I'm letting the characters develop at a normal rate I wasn't paying too much attention to how they act. I've tried to make Steve more in character for this chapter so please bear with me. Thank you to all you lovely people who continue to read this story, it means a huge amount to me. Now, enough of the talking, here's the chapter.**

"So why exactly did you call me down here again?" James asked expectantly.

"I need the strength of your arm to help with a part of my new suit." Tony said distractedly.

"Couldn't you just use one of your robots?" James sighed.

"Not really, I kind of wanted the company as well." James sighed.

"You could have gotten Steve, he has the same amount of strength as me." James said walking closer to Tony.

"Nah, Steve's just an old fossil, I mean, you're around the same age as him, but you have been woken up throughout the past few years so you're more in touch with reality than him." Tony said in a rush.

"You're nervous, why are you nervous?" Said James out of the blue.

"Why am I nervous. I'm nervous because if we're not careful we could blow ourselves up." At the moment that Tony said that a fire alarm went off throughout the building.

"Sir, there has been a radiation leak downstairs, I would suggest that you and Mr Barnes leave the building immediately." Came Jarvis's voice over the top of the din.

"We should go" Shouted Tony as he grabbed James's arm.

"I need to go grab something." James shouted as he tried to turn back.

"You can't, Jarvis is going to lockdown the building and suck all of the oxygen out, you'll die."

"I need to-" James didn't get to finish. Tony had called out his Iron Man suit and was flying James out of the building.

"I need to get back in there!" Screamed James over the roar of the wind.

"No can do James, the building is sealed off, whatever you want in there, you'll have to get it later."

Far below Tony and James, the rest of the avengers were setting the rest of their plan in motion. Tony's plan was to take James right to the altitude that would knock him out and then bring him straight back down. That gave everybody below exactly ten minutes to get Natasha out of the building and on her way to a safe location. The first part was being accomplished as Tony flew further above the building. Inside Steve, Pepper and Thor were on their way to Natasha's quarters. The weren't sure if James had set any alarms so they were being particularly careful. Eventually they got to Natasha's quarters, the door was locked, but that didn't surprise them. Pepper quickly typed something in on her phone and the lock popped open. Natasha was still where James had left her. She'd fallen asleep, obviously uncomfortable, but at the sound of the door opening, she sat up, scared.

From Natasha's point of view, all she could see was a blurry, hulking shape. She didn't know if it was James returning, she had heard the alarms going off earlier and then, when he hadn't come to get her, she was under the impression that he was going to leave her to die. When her eyes still wouldn't clear she shrunk back.

"Lady Natasha, it is okay, we are going to get you out of here." She heard Thor saying distantly, then she felt the pressure around her ankles and wrists being released and she was lifted up. She couldn't hold in a moan as her head moved.

"Put her down, we need to do this properly." She heard Pepper say to Thor, the she felt herself being lowered back down onto the bed. She heard Pepper speaking to Maria Hill through an earpiece.

"No, do not let him back in the building, get Tony to fly him back to Miami. Also send an ambulance, we think she may have a spinal injury..." a pause and then "got it."

"He Steve," Pepper said turning to him, "I need you to go the hallway and get the spinal board out of the medicine cabinet. We cannot move her without it." Steve turned and looked at her.

"Of course," then he left the room in a hurry, softly jogging down the corridor to where Pepper had pointed out the medicine cabinet. Inside the cabinet was the spinal board that she had talked about, and in front of that was morphine. He figured that that could be of use so he took that with him as well.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**AN: Wow, I'm really on a roll. This is the longest fic that I have ever posted and it's all thanks to you guys. I'm really enjoying writing this for you. Thanks for reading and remember reviews are a writer's best friend, so please review even if it's only one or two words long. You're all the best :) Also, crazyaboutto, you are now my favorite reviewer having reviewed the most.**

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"This is a place you go to die", thought Steve Rogers as he stood, watching Natasha through a window. It was eerily similar to the time that they both stood and watched ex director Fury being operated on after he was shot by the Winter Soldier. Steve refused to associate The Winter Soldier and James together. He didn't want them to be the same people. In his mind James was still the friend that he had had in Brooklyn in the thirties and forties. Beside him stood Maria Hill.

"It's not your fault you know?" She said, somehow getting through his mental barrier. "James made his own decision and will have to live with that for the rest of his life." Steve looked over at her.

"I'm the one who brought him back, I'm the one who convinced you to let him stay and now he;s gone and done this, brought low the highest member of our team. Oh Hill, it is definitely my fault." Steve turned back to the glass. "He was my friend." She heard him mutter and watched as his knuckles went white around the edge of the window.

"You may have brought him back. But I'm the one who let him stay, I could have easily thrown him in the fridge or had him killed then and there. This is no one persons fault except his, and you need to get that in your head Steve, or it will eat you up." Steve didn't respond, he was back in his zone, staring at Natasha and waiting for her to wake up.

It was white, too bright, sterile. They were the first thoughts that went through Natasha Romanoffs head as she began to wake up. The second thoughts were that there was a heavy pressure on one side of her. She tried to turn her head to look at what it was, but as soon as she did a searing pain went through the base of her skull and into her spine. She groaned, making whatever, whoever it was that was beside her, move and sit up.

"Good to see that you're finally awake." She heard Pepper saying.

"I feel like I should be dead."

"Not surprising. You have three broken vertebrae, a serious concussion, a fractured cheekbone, a ruptured spleen and several broken ribs."

"Where's the painkillers Pepper?" Natasha said.

"Wow, quick… I'll call a nurse, they're overdue for checking your vitals. Also, you have about ten people outside who are waiting to see you as soon as you're cleared."

"How did you know?"

"Tony saw you flinch when James touched you a couple of times and got Jarvis to keep an eye on you. Jarvis let us know when James hit you hard enough to knock you out."

"You shouldn't have interfered. He will kill me as soon as he finds out that you all know."

"That's not going to happen" Came a distinctly male voice that Natasha was pretty sure was Steve. "Bucky's currently on a mission while we work out what to do with him." Even though Natasha couldn't see his face, she could tell that he was holding something back.

"I know your voice Steve, I know when you're not telling me everything. What are you going to do with him?"

"What needs to be done to keep you safe." Steve didn't elaborate any further.

"Just remember that I made my decisions as well, I could have stopped it and I chose not to, so don't go too hard on him."

"Natasha, we saw what he did to you, we saw how he treated you. You cannot say that you could have stopped him because it was obvious that you couldn't. Now, he may have once been my best friend, but in the era that we grew up in, what he did was considered the worst. So we are going to do whatever is needed to stop him." Steve stopped, panting slightly after his long spiel.

"Wow, someone has a lot of pent up emotion."

"And someone is in a very fragile state at the moment."

"Alright you two" Pepper interjected before the debate could get any fiercer. "Natasha, I am getting your nurse, because you really need to be checked. Steve, can I trust you to stay here without causing an argument?" Pepper looked pointedly over at Steve and then proceeded to go and find a nurse.

Twenty minutes later Natasha was getting poked and prodded with all manner of dull, and pointy things. She was sick of it and it was starting to show. It also didn't help that they had put a solid plastic neck brace on her.

"How long will it be until this is finished?" She sighed.

"Another ten minutes, I think, you're a bit of a complicated case." Replied her nurse. Natasha rolled her eyes and sank back into her pillow. Just in the corner of her peripheral vision she could 'hear' Steve smirking.

"Stop it Steve." She snapped.

"Stop what?" He answered back, far too chipper for her likine.

"Alright, that's it all checked, now I've put some strong painkillers in your cannula, so you're going to sleep for a few hours, but you should be feeling a lot better in the morning." Said her nurse, butting in before their confrontation got physical. In fact, now that she mentioned it, Natasha was feeling rather tired.

"Can we continue this at a later date?" She murmured before she fell into a deep sleep.

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**AN: Two updates in one day. Wow! This one comes late at night though, because I have rowing tomorrow and won't get to write much over the weekend. So hopefully you will all stick with me until my next update. Thanks again for reading this. Please R&R. Love you guys :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**AN: I know, I know, Steve has been out of character, my only response is that he's still getting over the shock of what happened and is trying to work out what to do. To all of you who reviewed on the last chapter, you're awesome. Thanks for sticking with me through this.**

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It was dark when Natasha woke up. Thunder was booming outside and she could hear the rain through the walls. She tried to move but stopped when her neck and back protested. She sighed and rested her head back against the starched white pillow. She had only just begun to doze off when she heard it, a loud crash outside her room. She struggled, trying to pull herself out of the drug-induced daydream that she had fallen into. She stopped when she heard the door into her room being opened. She frantically reached for her gun, but stopped when she couldn't feel it. All that she could see was a dark outline, moving towards her;

"Help-" she began to say, but couldn't say anymore as she felt a liquid being injected into her system, then everything went black.

The medi transport was moving at a rapid pace, taking them God knows where. Pepper and Maria sat in the back, keeping an eye on their, still, unconscious patient.

"How long will it take for her to wake up do you think?" Pepper said to no one in particular.

"Banner measured the serum precisely, she should wake up around thirty minutes after we get there?" Tony replied. Pepper resumed her gaze at Natasha.

Seven-hundred kilometres away Steve and Thor were following James through the Streets of Ohio. James was on the trail of a fake assassin that SHIELD had created, it had given them the perfect opportunity to tail James, until they were seen…

"What are you both doing here?" He had shouted over the highway in a lull between cars.

"Didn't Hill tell you? We're your backup." Steve covered quickly.

"I don't need backup." He had shouted back. "I need to do this and get back, I haven't seen Natasha since the radiation leak and I want to." At that Steve had run across the road.

"Actually, we need to talk to you about that."

"About what?" James had replied warily, Thor, rightfully, was staying out of the conversation.

"She's gone, we went into the building and found her dead tied to her bed." Steve lied smoothly.

"What! What do you mean she's dead? She can't be dead?" James started to fret, then stopped suddenly and looked at Steve. "You did this, didn't you." He continued.

"Did what James? Beat her up until she passed out? Tried to rape he? I'm pretty sure that was you."

"How the fuck do you know about that!" James screamed into Steves face, pulling out his gun and pointing it at Steve.

"You were in a building run by an electronic man with an electronic butler who knows everything. James, this isn't you!" Steve said.

"Don't tell me who I am or who I'm not, I'm a changed person Steve."

"That doesn't mean you hit women!" Steve exclaimed.

"She could take it!" James shouted back.

"She's still a woman."

"She told you, didn't she, she went and told you. You were probably screwing her behind my back and that's when she told you!" James spat.

"I would never-" Steve began.

"Don't talk" James cut it "I'm going to find her and kill her for telling you, and I'm going to kill you too for doing anything about it." James raised the gun to Steve's forehead. James, however, did not get to pull the trigger. Thor had chosen that exact moment to fire a tranquiliser dart straight into his neck.

When James awoke, he wa lying in a metal interrogation room. Groaning as he woke up, he pushed himself into a sitting position, but stopped when he heard a voice crackling through a speaker.

"Sit in the chair."

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**AN: I promise I tried to make Steve more in character this chapter. Remember, R&R. Love you guys :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**AN: Sorry for the long wait for the next chapter, it was mothers-day yesterday and I had work until three in the afternoon and then I was watching Eurovison. Hopefully this fic makes up for it. I've tried to put in a few of the ideas that people have mentioned so enjoy :)**

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The cell itself was a small one, only about three meters by three meters. James had measured this in the first hour that he had been awake in there. He knew why they were locking him up, but it didn't mean that he enjoyed the feeling. They had removed his metal arm as well while he was unconscious. Didn't want him forcing his way out he supposed. He wondered where they were keeping Natasha. As much as the rest of the avengers thought he didn't love her, he did. He just lost control, the anger would course through his veins and he relished having a power that he hadn't had when he worked for Russia.

_It was snowing outside the warehouse. He was standing in a shadowy corner watching the young girl who stood at attention in the centre of the floor, she had been brought in by the general and then told to stand at attention until someone came and told her to do otherwise. That had been five hours ago and The Winter Soldier could tell that she was beginning to tire. She was swaying on her feet, her head falling forward and then snapping straight back up. She was trying hard to stay awake, The Winter Soldier knew this, though he had been told to leave to the point of exhaustion, give her a brief respite then throw her into training without a second thought. It would be easy, he thought. Drive her to the point of pure exhaustion just to see where she would crack. To tell the truth, he was looking forward to it. The whole time he had been in Russia he had been a puppet and he was looking forward to telling someone what to do for once. He looked back over to her and then to the cameras in the centre of the room. He grabbed his masked, put it on, and began to walk into the centre of the room. It was show-time. He walked out into the centre of the room behind the young girl, careful not to make any noise, he wanted to see how alert she would be, how quickly she would react to him appearing. He stopped about three metres behind her._

_"Don't you dare fall asleep" He said._

_"Who said I was falling asleep?" _

_"Your face" The Winter Soldier said with a straight face. The young girl still hadn't turned around, though her hand had flicked to her forehead and she was now standing at a full salute. He began to walk in a slow circle around her, she couldn't be any more than fifteen or sixteen he thought. _

_"What is your name?" He asked when he got to her front._

_"I don't have a name, I have not earnt it."_

_"Then what should I call you?"_

_"Whatever you believe I should be called." She responded deadpan, still standing at a salute._

_"You must know your name?" The Winter Soldier._

_"It is Natalia." She replied quietly._

_"Suits you." He said, then punched her in the stomach. "Now, defend yourself."_

James woke with a start. He hadn't even realised that he had gone to sleep, but there he was, lying on the floor. He looked up and saw the red light on the security camera blinking away. He knew that there were people watching. There were always people watching.

On the opposite side of the country Natasha was recovering in a SHIELD-run country club. Most of the avengers were with her, only Steve and Maria had remained with James. Originally Maria had wanted all of the Avengers with Natasha, but Steve had refused to go, saying that he needed to stay with James. That James needed someone who could understand him. Maria hadn't wanted him to but had eventually agreed and Steve had watched the plane with the rest of his teammates leave the tarmac without him.

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**AN: Again, I am really sorry and I wish this was updated sooner. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**AN: Here it is, again, I'm super sorry for the wait, year 11 is insane and I have seven assignments due over the next three weeks. I'm really sorry :(**

The room that Natasha was staying in was a hotel in its own. There were two bedrooms and a master bedroom that had down doonas and goose-feather pillows. It was heaven, though after a few days she got sick of everyone babying her and not allowing her to do anything for herself. Given, she had a broken neck, but she still wanted to be able to do something, anything to kill the boredom. They all did try to keep her sane though, every day there would be someone in her room, keeping her company, doing stuff with her, getting stuff for her, she hated it. She just wanted to get up and move, not stay lying on her back on a pillow.

Thor was one of her most regular friends, the two of them were famous for their movie marathons and their late night discussions. Currently they were having a Lord of the Rings Extended Edition marathon. Complete with surround sound. As bored as Natasha had been, she had to admit, that it was kind of fun. By three AM they had finished and Natasha was fighting to stay awake.

"I will leave you to sleep now Lady Natasha, do you need anything before I go?" Thor said when he noticed her let loose a particularly large yawn.

"No thank you, I'll be okay, but thanks for offering." After this Thor nodded his head and then got up and left the room, turning the light off as he left. As soon as the light was off and Natasha's head hit her pillow, she fell asleep.

_She was tied to a chair, her head was pounding and she was pretty sure that one of her ribs was broken. _

_"Where is it!" screamed her captor in her face. She didn't respond. That was what she had been taught, what she had been trained to do. This infuriated her captor even more, he gave her a good old-fashioned slap across the face then lent into her face._

_"See, people told me you were smart, they told me that you would out-fox me, but you haven't, and I don't think you will." He straightened back up. "I will be back for you tomorrow. Don't' go anywhere." He cackled. "That's right, you can't." With that, he left the room, leaving Natasha in semi-darkness, tied to a chair. She mentally slapped herself for being so stupid as to have compromised the mission. She had gone in alone, without backup, into a situation that she knew was a trap and it hadn't gone to plan. She felt like a stupid schoolgirl, messing up like this. It wasn't like her, and she knew the general would punish her if, when she got out._

_She remained in that God-forsaken place for three days. Each day worse than the other, until, for a moment they loosened their hold and it was enough for her to get out. She ran, faster than she had ever run before, leaving their stronghold and trying to make her way back to hers. On the way she was found by her trainer. The Winter Soldier. No one knew his real name. All that they was that he had once been an American soldier who had defected to Russia and had become Russia's most lethal weapon. He had tracked her to where she was being held, and then made himself known to her when she got out of their reach. _

_"What are you doing here?" She had said when she first saw him._

_"Saving your ass." He responded in English. "If you know what's good for you, you won't speak in Russian through here, it's too obvious, from now on, you and me, we're American tourists." She shuddered at the word American._

_"Why American?" She spat back._

_"Because, stupidly, America is trusted throughout these parts so that's what we'll be." His tone said no more discussion, so she sighed and allowed him to wrap his arms around her shoulders as he lead her away._

_"Where are we going?" She asked once they had been walking for a bit._

_"Back to my hotel room, we'll work out everything from there." Continued their conversation in English._

_Once they got back to the hotel room James sat down on his bed and started typing something into his handheld. Natasha stood staring at him. She refused to sit down, knowing that if she sat, it would become obvious as to how injured she actually was, so instead she leant on the wall. After a while James looked up at her._

_"There's food in the fridge" he said jerking his head in its general direction. She nodded in reply, but he didn't see, he was already absorbed back into what he was doing on his phone. _

_Once she was in the kitchen, she reached down to get a bottle of water out and as she did, she felt something crack in her back. She couldn't hide the scream as she fell to the floor and tried to put pressure on the pain. She was in so much pain that she almost didn't notice when James picked her up and carried her over to the bed. She did, however hear him ask where the pain was, and when she couldn't answer, felt him begin feeling around her back, looking for the source of the pain. When he reached the spot where she had felt the crack, she let loose another blood-curdling scream. _

_"Why didn't you tell me…" He muttered when the pain had subsided slightly._

_"Didn't- Didn't need to know." She said, fighting to get the words out between gritted teeth._

_"I'm your commanding officer Natasha, you tell me this kind of thing."_

_"Well, I wasn't exactly able to tell you before now, was I? You were too busy doing whatever it was that you were doing to help me break out of there." She spat back at him. For a while he didn't respond and she was worried that he was going to leave her there. Then, quietly, she heard him saying;_

_"I thought you had it all under control." For a while she couldn't respond due to him fixing her back with a cream that the Russian government had invented for situations such as this. A rapid fix, cell regeneration type thing, modelled off the American super soldier serum. Once he finished however, she was quick to voice her opinion._

_"Well obviously I didn't, I don't see how everything in there looked 'under control'." She said._

_"I am sorry that I overestimated your skills, it will not happen again." James replied flatly as he turned to walk into the next room. "Get some sleep, we leave early tomorrow." Natasha had to force herself to say the next bit;_

_"James" he turned around "Thank you for helping me." He moved back towards her and dropped to the floor when he was next to her._

_"It is my duty to help you." Then to her complete shock, he kissed her quickly on the forehead._

Natasha woke feeling more rested than she had in a while. Sunlight was streaming through the windows, and when she looked at her watch it said 12:30PM. She had slept through half of the day. Today was also the day when she was finally going to be allowed to get up and walk again. Even with the super-soldier serum in her, the SHIELD doctors had been hesitant about letting her move her back again, though they had to admit, in the last few days, she had healed exponentially. Almost faster than Steve which was a record to be proud of. Hesitantly, she tried to sit up, and was pleasantly surprised when she managed to do it all by herself. She was less pleasantly surprised, however, when she got an immediate wave of light-headedness. Not wishing to fall to the floor and be unable to get up, she lay back down on her bed and called out for someone.


End file.
